


Star Crossed

by sabhart



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, F/M, Pop Star AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 23:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11474313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabhart/pseuds/sabhart
Summary: Maya Hart does not need some up and coming youtube singer to save her career and Lucas Friar does not need a pop diva to help him start his





	1. One

"Maya Penelope Hart, what the hell did you do this time?"

Maya groaned and grabbed the closest pillow to cover her head and drown out the reprimanding she was about to receive from her best friend.

"Rachel has called me ten times in the past hour asking why you weren't answering your phone and she threatened to come here herself if you didn't answer her calls soon."

This caught Maya's attention. "No! I didn't do anything, I swear!"

Riley gave her a look that let her know that she didn't believe a word she was saying. "You're telling me if I turn on TMZ right now I will not hear your name a single time?"

Maya bit her lip and gave her most convincing innocent smile. "I can't promise that, I mean I am a mega famous pop star after all."

Riley scoffed and rolled her eyes. Before she could get out another chiding word, Maya's phone began to ring with the obnoxious tone letting them know it was her agent. "You'd better answer that or the next thing to ring is going to be your doorbell."

Maya pouted as she watched her best friend leave her alone to deal with a very angry Rachel.

"Hello?"

"What the hell were you thinking?" Rachel's annoyingly high pitched voice caused Maya to actually have to hold the phone away from her ear. 

"Good morning to you too, Rach."

"Oh don't give me that, Maya. All I asked from you was to lay low for a month until your tour started and you couldn't even do that! Do you realize how much trouble you've caused for us?"

This caused Maya's blood to boil. "Excuse me, trouble for us? I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you and I were the same person now Rachel."

"I do not need you to go all teenager on me right now, Maya. You know that this is going to cost us."

Maya Hart was known for a lot of things and her short temper was probably towards the top of that list. "So now I'm not allowed to be in charge of my own relationships either? Tyler Blake is a self entered and conceited piece of shit and I'm not sorry for dumping his ass."

"Tyler Blake might be self centered and conceited but he is also Hollywood's it boy right now and if you want to stay the it girl then we are going to have to do a lot of damage control."

********************************

"We are here Mr. Friar."

Lucas looked up from his phone to see a beautiful office building surrounded by palm trees. He tried to hide his amazement, but if the chuckle from the driver was any clue he wasn't doing very well. "Thank you so much, David."

David seemed a bit surprised that the boy had remembered his name, but gave him a rare smile. "Head on in and Rachel will be waiting for you. Good luck, kid."

Lucas gave a polite nod before heading in to the building. The inside was covered in hanging records and trophies to signify how successful the label really was and Lucas couldn't help the amazement he felt when reading some of the names on the wall.

"Lucas Friar," a squeaky voice broke his train of thought. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

He turned around to see the overly cheerful redhead that he and his mother had flown out to meet with just two weeks before. "Same to you, Ms. White."

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "Call me Rachel. We are going to be working together an awful lot after all." She turned around and made a "follow me" motion as she headed towards the elevator. "Now, this is the Dream Records Headquarters as I'm sure you've already figured out. This is where most of our meetings will take place, but the only time you really wanna be here is when it concerns your album, you got me?"

Lucas nodded. He had heard stories of celebrities having to have meetings with the label when they had gotten in trouble and he did not want to risk this contract. 

The elevator opened, letting them off on the seventh floor and Rachel continued to lead him like a lost puppy. She brought them to a lounge area with the most uncomfortable looking leather couches that Lucas had ever seen. There was also a fully stocked minibar and a fridge full of sodas and snacks. The giant flatscreen on the wall was playing some celebrity news program that Lucas didn't recognize.

"I'm going to leave you here for a few minutes while I go talk to the big guys, okay?" Rachel looked much more frazzled than Lucas had seen her in the short time he had known her, so he only nodded instead of arguing. "There are plenty of snacks in the fridge if you're hungry from your flight, but just don't touch the minibar, alright? We don't want you getting in trouble on your first day here okay."

Before he had the chance to respond, Rachel was gone. He decided to take this time to try and soak in what was happening for him right now, but that seemed impossible. When his best friend Zay had dared him to make a YouTube channel two years ago, neither of them could have ever imagined it would lead to sitting in a record label. Lucas wasn't used to fancy leather couches or fully stocked minibars, he was used to singing country covers on his guitar in his tiny little Texas bedroom. He quickly texted both his mom and Zay to let them know how crazy this was and how much he wished they were both with him.

"Coming up next, why did pop diva Maya Hart throw spaghetti in it boy Tyler Blake's face? Stay tuned!"

Lucas looked up from his phone to see paparazzi pictures of the blonde beauty smearing noodles in her supposed boyfriend's face and he couldn't help but snicker to himself.

"Oh my god, turn that shit off!" A familiar voice groaned behind him. He froze in shock for a moment before turning around to see the blonde beauty herself walking into the lounge with an annoyed look on her face. "Are you deaf? I said turn it off."

Lucas narrowed his eyes, but found the remote and changed the channel anyway. "You know, a please wouldn't have killed you."

The small blonde looked at him in disbelief before returning his hostile glare. "And who are you?"

"Lucas Friar. And you are?" Of course he knew who she was. What teenager on the face of the planet did not know who Maya Hart was? But he knew it would push her buttons so he said it anyways.

She let out a humorless laugh. "Maya Hart. But you knew that, didn't you Huckleberry?"

His nose wrinkled at the nickname. "America's not-so-sweet Hart? Yeah I've heard of you, shortstack.

Her blue eyes burned into him and he braced himself for her to pounce on him, but before she could Rachel returned.

"Oh good, you've met each other! Both of you follow me."

The two teenagers looked at their manager in confusion, but followed anyways. The room that Rachel led them to was full of people in business suits that were probably way too tight judging by their pinched faces. Lucas felt extremely uncomfortable, but Maya somehow seemed more on edge than he did.

"Both of you take a seat," the man at the head of the table instructed. "We have much to discuss."

They did as they were told and waited on edge as the man looked between the two of them.

"Why are we both here?" Maya finally asked the question on both of their minds.

"I'm glad you asked," the man smiled. "Lucas, I'm assuming you know Maya."

Lucas shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I wouldn't say I know her, in fact we just met."

The man shook his head. "No, son. I mean you've heard of her and all of her... Escapades."

He could feel the girl's ice cold glare on him, but he nodded. "Yes, sir, I've heard some things about her from the media."

"And have those 'things' that you've heard from the media dampened your impression of her? Remember, we are all friends here so you can be honest."

Lucas had to stop himself from scoffing at the word 'friends'. "I guess I'm not as big of a fan of hers as I used to be, no."

The man nodded. "And now Maya. Have you ever heard of Lucas?"

The blonde rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Should I have? He seems like this world is going to swallow him up before he even gets a single out."

Lucas bit his tongue to force himself to stay quiet as the man laughed. "So you've never watched his YouTube covers then?"

"YouTube covers? Should I even know what that means?"

The man smiled again and looked at the rest of the suits around the table. "Now do you see why they need each other?"

Lucas and Maya both tensed, but Maya was the first to speak. "You think I need him? What the hell could I possibly need him for, Kenny?"

Kenny held a hand up to silence her and folded his hands on the table. "Maya, you've been in the media over fifty times in the past three months for negative reasons and it's causing us to worry about your album sales. You're releasing a new album in a few months and you're going on tour in one so we need to bite the bullet and get you back on the public's good side."

"Is this about me dumping Tyler?" She nearly growled. "Because you guys have no right-"

"Actually, we have every right." One of the women across from Maya smiled spitefully. "You signed a contract with us that gives us the right to do whatever we see fit in this situation and this is what we have decided."

Maya looked to Rachel for help, but the redhead refused to meet her eyes. "This is bullshit."

"Excuse me sir," Lucas finally spoke up. "I'm not sure I'm following what's going on here."

"They're sticking you on my tour, cowboy," Maya hissed.

"But why?"

Kenny smiled sympathetically at the boy. "You may have three million followers on YouTube Lucas, but that doesn't mean much in this industry. We need to get you out there in the media and make people see you before they will listen to you and this is the best way to do that."

"But I don't even have an album yet."

"Well it's a good thing we have a month until the tour starts then, isn't it?"


	2. Two

"This is complete and total bullshit Rachel and you know it," Maya fumed as she paced the lounge, unable to sit still. 

"You heard Kenny," her manager sighed sounding utterly defeated. "TMZ has featured you more times in the past three months for petty drama than I can keep track of and despite the fact that you and I know what's going on, the fans don't. Your fans are the ones who keep you at the top Maya and we have to make sure you stay there."

"I can stay there on my own!" Maya knew she was acting like a brat right now but she was too far beyond pissed off to care. "I don't need some country singing youtube nobody to help me out, never mind join my tour!"

"Still sitting right here." Lucas looked annoyed with the situation, but what right did he have to be upset by this? Joining her tour would rocket his career up, so if anything he should be thanking her.

"Listen here Bucky," she hissed as she strode over to stand in front of where he sat on the couch. "I've worked my ass off to get to where I am today and if you think you can just walk in here and ride my coat tails to the top you've got another thing coming."

Lucas rolled his eyes and inhaled deeply before responding, seemingly counting in his head as if he were searching for the patience he would need to deal with a small child. "I'm dreading this situation just as much as you are Hart, but I'll be damned if you think you can ruin this opportunity for me. I have more riding on this album I'm going to be making than you could ever imagine and I'm not going to let some spoiled pop princess ruin my one shot here, you got me?"

Maya glared at the boy in front of her as she felt her anger increasing. How was he not understanding how much worse this situation was for her? How could he not see how much she would be risking by him joining her? If he joined the tour, that would just be one more person for the public to associate her with to help screw up Maya's image and that was the last thing she needed right now. "You think you're really something, don't you cowboy? You think you're special? You think your little YouTube channel made you somebody important? News flash cowboy, you're nothing out here."

Something that looked a lot like rage broke through his condescending demeanor for just a moment, but it was there long enough for Maya to identify it and it strangely excited her. His face quickly resumed his mocking expression and he gave her a sarcastic pout. "And you think you're something? Tell me, what's it like-"

"Enough!" Both of the teens turned to see their manager looking beyond fed up by their petty argument. "I don't care if you hate each other's guts, you're going to be on this tour together and you are going to learn to be civil with one another so help me god! Kenny was right when he said that you needed each other, even if both of you are too goddamned proud to see it. This tour is going to be important for both of you to gain favor with the public and you're going to do this whether you like it or not because you're both legally obligated to. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" The teenagers blinked at the usually sweet Rachel and saw just how seriously fed up she was. "I'll take that as a yes. Now, Maya, I want you to bring Lucas with you to your lunch with Riley and Farkle and introduce them. This is Lucas's first day here in LA and I think it would do him well to meet some fellow teenagers."

"You want me to bring him with me?" Maya looked at her astonished. It was one going to have to work with the guy but Rachel was actually expecting her to deal with him on her personal time too.

"Yes, that's what I said," Rachel snapped impatiently. "I have some meetings to go to for the production of your album Lucas that I will catch you up on tomorrow."

"Shouldn't I be going to the meetings with you?" Lucas asked, clearly confused. "It's my album after all."

Maya couldn't help but snicker at his naivety but was quickly silenced by a look from Rachel. "It's all the boring production meetings, you won't be missing much. Go meet Maya's friends and get to know them. Remember that connections are everything in this business."

********************************

"So you're from Texas, huh?" Farkle asked, trying to break some of the tension at their table. Maya had refused to speak to Lucas the entire drive to the restaurant, instead texting who he could only assume were Riley and Farkle.

"Yeah," Lucas smiled politely. "Born and raised on a ranch in Austin." Rachel was right when she said that connections were extremely important in this business and Riley Matthews and Farkle Minkus would be some pretty great connections to have.

Farkle's father owned a pretty big technology company and his mother was a very well known director in the movie business, not to mention Farkle himself starred on some vampire television show that all of the girls at school used to fawn over back in Texas. Riley was also an actor, but she mainly starred in movies, too many to name to be honest. Lucas remembered reading somewhere in one of his mother's gossip magazines that Riley and Maya had been friends since the beginning of their careers and watching the two of them now it was easy to believe.

"Oh I love Austin!" Riley exclaimed. "I did a movie there a few years ago and the city was amazing! There's something so charming about the south."

"Yeah, real charming," Maya rolled her eyes. "It's way too hot there if you ask me."

"I didn't," Lucas bit back before he could catch himself. Luckily, the other two laughed in response, but Maya didn't find it quite as amusing.

"You're lucky there's cameras, Ranger Rick," she smiled tightly.

"What?" Lucas hadn't seen any cameras when they sat down, but they were eating on the deck of the small cafe so he supposed it was possible he had missed them. "Where?"

"Don't look for them," Farkle chided gently. "There's a few guys across the street and a girl behind Riley taking a picture as we speak."

Lucas looked over the brunette's shoulder and saw a girl only a bit younger than them already staring at him. When they made eye contact, she giggled and looked away quickly. "Shouldn't I go say hi?" He asked the boy sitting next to him quietly.

"No," Riley piped up quickly. "If you go say hi to her it's only a matter of time before you get swarmed by fifty more people 'just wanting to say hi.' You never want to be the one to engage."

"But it's just one girl. Couldn't I just thank her for-"

"You're such an idiot," Maya interrupted, clearly annoyed by him. "It's never just one, stupid. You didn't even know that there were cameras. If you were to go talk to her you'd get the four of us mobbed in less than two minutes."

He was confused and didn't understand how talking to one girl could possibly cause a mob, but then he remembered who he was sitting with. Three of the most well known teenagers in the world were currently trying to help him adjust to LA life and he decided he should probably listen to them.

"Back in Texas I could talk to all of my fans any time I ran into them," he remembered aloud.

"Well you're not in Kansas anymore Toto," Maya sighed as she sipped her lemonade.

"If talking to her could possibly cause a swarm, why isn't there one already?"

"We're pretty lowkey right now," Farkle explained. "It's afternoon so most people don't expect us to be out for some weird reason and this cafe isn't too popular so people don't expect us to be here."

"We come here a lot when we're trying to stay on the down low," Riley chimed in. "The owner knows us pretty well and keeps the paps off of our trail when he can."

"Paps?"

"Paparazzi," Riley clarified. "They're annoying, but it just comes with the job."

"I guess I'm gonna have to get used to this, huh?"

Maya smiled at him menacingly. "Only if you manage to stick around"

********************************

"Maya Hart was seen out with Riley Matthews, Farkle Minkus, and a new mystery man just one day after the big spaghetti incident with apparent ex Tyler Blake! Who is this new guy and does he have anything to do with our favorite A list couple's split?"

"Turn that shit off!" Maya yelled from her kitchen where she was popping some popcorn for her and Riley's movie night.

"Sorry," the brunette called back.

Maya joined her a few minutes later and made herself comfortable on the couch under a fluffy purple blanket. She could feel Riley's eyes on her and sighed. "What?"

"He really doesn't seem that bad, Peaches."

"You would think that," Maya huffed.

Riley held her hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying! He was really fun to hang out with today and it was refreshing to meet someone who seems real and down to earth. You of all people know how hard those kind of people are to find."

Maya closed her eyes and sighed. "He said he has more riding on his album than I could imagine."

Riley gave her a sympathetic smile and held her arms out for her best friend to fall in to. "You know what that's like."

"I don't need him to help me, Riley."

"I know you don't need him, but I really think you could help each other a lot. You could do him a lot of good if you wanted to."

"Why do you have to be such a good good influence on me?"

"It's my job."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been so long but I was on a two week road trip with my family! Honestly it's a miricale we all came back alive, but I hope you guys like this story so far!


	3. Three

"Move over Bucky," Maya called as she entered the lounge where they had first met a few days before.

"There are plenty of other seats," Lucas rolled his eyes and refused to move his legs from their position across the long couch.

Maya grabbed a soda out of the fridge and stood in front of him, waiting for him to move. "Your boots are currently occupying MY seat and I would appreciate it if you would move them."

Lucas was slightly taken aback by her almost polite attitude, but he was comfortable and there were plenty of other places she could sit so he decided to make a point. "Sorry princess, my feet aren't moving."

She glared at him for a moment before turning around and he assumed she had given up, but instead of walking away she plopped herself onto his legs and opened her ginger ale. "Suit yourself."

He had only known her for a few days now, but Lucas honestly felt like he should have expected that from her. After getting lunch with Farkle and Riley, Rachel hadn't forced the two of them to spend any more time together, but they knew they were going to be very soon. Today, for instance, Maya was doing an interview with Ryan Seacrest where she was going to be announcing Lucas as the addition to her tour and honestly both of them were dreading it.

"Oh good," Rachel smiled as she appeared before Lucas could yell at Maya to get off of him. "I see you two are getting awfully close!"

Maya scoffed. "That was almost a dad joke, Rach."

Rachel grinned triumphantly and took a seat across from them with a clipboard in hand. "We are going to be leaving here in ten to go to the radio station where Maya will do the interview. They're recording the interview for youtube as well, so I want the two of you to be on your best behavior, do you understand?"

Rachel reminded Lucas a lot of his mother with her "take charge" attitude and he admired her for it. He knew that their behavior would effect not only him, but her directly as well and he didn't want to let her down or cause any issues. "We will be complete professionals."

Maya didn't answer right away, so Lucas jolted his leg from under her and she let out a surprised shriek. "Fine! I'll be good, okay?"

"Why don't you give Lucas some tips for interviews while I go check and make sure a car is ready for us?" Rachel left before waiting for an answer.

"Why do I need tips?" He asked cluelessly.

"When I announce you on tour with me you're going to come in to the interview with me," Maya explained. "They will probably have you all set up the whole time so that you can just start talking when Ryan addresses you."

Lucas felt his stomach drop. He knew that interviews were a part of this whole career that he so desperately wanted, but he had always been terrified of public speaking. "It's not live though, right? Like they can edit it if I screw up?"

Maya was visibly fighting back a laugh. "No buddy, it's live. This isn't youtube. There is about a three second delay for in case you let a swear slip, but that's all you've got." He could feel himself panicking and she seemed to sense it. She rested a hand on his knee and smiled at him genuinely for the first time. "Hey, you're gonna do fine."

"I just have this thing about talking in public," he tried to explain as casually as possible.

"You realize that talking in front of crowds is a big part of this job, right?" She wasn't sounding condescending like he had feared she would, but instead genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I just didn't think it would all happen so fast." He wiped his sweaty hands on his thighs and tried to relax his pounding heart. "I thought I'd have more time to adjust than this."

Maya gave him a sympathetic smile and he swore Rachel had replaced her with some alien version of Maya because she was never this nice. "Not many people get time to adjust in this business. It's more of a hit the ground running kind of thing. You'll get the hang of it though."

"Come on kids," Rachel called from the hallway. "We are going to be late if we don't leave now!"

********************************

"Today I am joined with the lovely Maya Hart!" Ryan introduced to the camera and the small room of people cheered for her. "Welcome back, Maya!"

"Thank you," Maya smiled, looking at Ryan instead of the camera. "It's so nice to be back! I feel like I haven't been here in so long."

Lucas watched as Maya calmly answered Ryan Seacrest's questions about her album and they chatted about her current single. It amazed him how casual she was being in front of the camera and how easily she spoke with an interviewer. It was almost like they were old friends finally catching up after not seeing each other in forever. Sure, Lucas had plenty of practice in front of a camera from his YouTube videos, but those were all videos he could edit. He controlled the way that people would see him on his channel, but here he had no control.

"When we come back, Maya Hart will give us a big announcement and introduce us to her very special guest," Ryan interrupted Lucas's train of thought. "You don't want to miss it so stay tuned!"

The "On Air" sign flickered off and Maya slipped her headphones off and turned to Lucas. "You ready?"

He didn't get the chance to answer her as he was instantly ushered into a chair beside her and placed at the perfect angle for the cameras to catch his every move. "You must be Lucas," Ryan smiled as he held his hand out for Lucas to shake.

He accepted it and nodded. "Yes sir, that's me."

"What a grip," Ryan chuckled to the woman touching up Maya's makeup, but the lady was paying no attention. "You seem a little nervous."

"More like terrified," Lucas tried to laugh but it sounded more like a choke than anything. 

"If you freeze up I'll take it," Maya promised so that only he could hear. She gently placed her hand over his which laid on the desk and gave a reassuring smile. "Just be yourself, okay?"

He nodded, but was cut off yet again by the camera man shouting that they would be live in ten. Lucas quickly slipped his headphones on and took a deep breath as he tried to remember all of the advice Maya and Rachel had given him on the car ride over. All he had to do was answer a few questions about himself and the tour and he would be fine.

"We are back here with Maya Hart and her very special guest for a big announcement. What do you have for us Maya?"

Maya smiled at Ryan and turned her attention to the camera and Lucas took her cue to do the same. "I am joined here by rising youtube star Lucas Friar to tell you guys that you can join us on our 'Star Crossed' Tour starting in just a few weeks!"

"This is major," Ryan beamed. "Lucas, tell me, how does it feel to be going on tour with such a pop superstar?"

Lucas smiled politely and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he thought of the right words. "Honestly, I'm still shocked by it! Just two weeks ago I was singing covers in my bedroom and now I'm sitting here with you Ryan and it's crazy."

"Oh forget about me," Ryan waved. "Tell us how you wound up on Maya's tour! How did you two meet?"

Lucas froze for a second. He couldn't very well tell the whole nation how the first time he had met Maya Hart they had berated each other. He noticed Maya about to take the question for him, but he wasn't sure he would like her version of what happened so he acted quickly. "It's a funny story actually," he started, earning a concerned look from Rachel behind the camera. "I actually met Maya on my first day officially living here in LA."

"Talk about a big first day," Ryan laughed.

"Tell me about it," Lucas smiled in return. "I've listened to Maya's music since I was a little kid and it was crazy to just run in to her on my first day. It's one of those things that only happens in movies, you know?"

"So what happened when you guys met? Had you heard of Lucas, Maya?"

Maya nodded, much to Lucas's surprise. "I had actually been subscribed to him, yeah."

"You were?" Lucas asked before he could catch himself. He was sure she was just going along with his lie, but he realized that too late.

"Oh you didn't tell him?"

"No," Maya blushed. She actually blushed. "I didn't want to seem like a fan girl so I played it cool. Anyways, it happened that he had just gotten signed to the same record label as me and it seemed too perfect not to add him to my tour."

"It is definitely perfect!" Ryan looked between the two of them for a second and seemed to notice the tension, but luckily decided to move on. "So Lucas, you currently have 3.6 million followers on youtube. How did that happen for you?"

Lucas sighed in relief that this question was one he could answer easily after explaining it to other people so many times. "Honestly, I'm not sure. About two years ago, my best friend Zay dared me to make a channel and I did. I didn't tell anyone at school about it at first because I was pretty embarrassed to be honest, but I posted covers on there a lot and my channel started growing. Before I knew it, local bars were calling me and asking me to perform and I was getting business emails offering meetings and everything just went crazy all at once."

"So would you say you ever imagined your channel blowing up the way it did?"

"Definitely not," Lucas shook his head. "I have all of my incredible supporters to thank for my success and if it weren't for them I would still be sitting in my tiny room back in Texas playing country songs on my shitty guitar." Maya kicked him sharply and it took him a minute to realize why. "Oh shoot, sorry for swearing."

"It sounds like you are one of those fans, correct Maya?"

Maya nodded and smiled tightly. "For sure. I've actually listened to all of his covers."

Lucas bit his tongue (literally) this time to keep from giving them away. Ryan looked at the camera and smiled brightly. "It seems like these two might be each other's biggest fans! Which cover would you say is your favorite, Maya?"

Great. They were fucked. Lucas felt his hands sweating profusely and tried to wipe them on his jeans as discreetly as possible as he waited for Maya to end their little lie.

"I really liked his cover of my song, in fact that was what made me first find his channel to be honest." Lucas's head shot over to look at her, but she ignored him and kept talking to Ryan. "My favorite cover of his though would probably be of From The Ground Up by Dan + Shay. That was a really good one. Or maybe Jealous by Labrinth. It was cool to see him make that his own."

Lucas looked at her dumbfounded. There was no way that she could have pulled those answers out of her ass. His From The Ground Up cover had been one of his first covers on his channel! Had she done her research specifically anticipating this question?

"Lucas?"

Lucas snapped out of it and realized that Ryan was expecting an answer to a question that he hadn't heard. "Sorry can you repeat that?"

Ryan laughed good naturedly. "I asked if you were shocked to hear that Maya knew your channel so well, but I guess that was my answer!"

"Yeah, you could say that," Lucas stared at Maya in confusion, but she held an innocent look on her face and smiled at him. "I'm definitely surprised."

"You have to know who you're touring with," Maya explained vaguely, more to Lucas than to the radio.

"And with that, it was lovely to have both of you in the studio with me today. Don't forget to buy your tickets to see Maya Hart and Lucas Friar perform in a city near you on their 'Star Crossed Tour!' Thank you again to Maya Hart and Lucas Friar!"

********************************

"What the hell was that?"

Maya picked at her nail polish and refused to meet Lucas's eyes in the car as they drove back from the radio station. Rachel had stayed behind to handle more business related things, but she had seemed pleased with the way the interview had gone. "Like I said, you need to know who you're touring with."

"So you did do research on me, didn't you?"

Maya rolled her eyes and finally met his gaze. "You know all sorts of things about me that I have never told you personally, so why shouldn't I know some things about you too?"

He seemed to think about this for a second before huffing again. "You could have at least told me you were looking me up."

"I didn't look you up," she insisted. "Why are you so mad about this anyways?" She didn't understand why he was so upset that she had watched his covers on YouTube. He had heard all of her music, so what was the big deal?

"I'm not mad," he snapped.

"Oh clearly," she snorted.

He took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a bit. "I'm not mad, I'm just surprised. When we first met, you said that you had never heard of me and I was okay with that, but I didn't expect you to go back and watch my videos. It's just weird for me, that's all."

Maya had lied when she had first met him, but she didn't want to admit that now. What she had told Ryan was the truth and she had actually been subscribed to Lucas for about a year since his cover of her song had been tweeted to her by a fan. She hadn't recognized him until Kenny had mentioned his YouTube channel in their meeting, but she had already seen all of his videos.

"Are you embarrassed or something?" She asked after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"No. I mean, I don't know, kind of I guess. One of those covers you mentioned was one of the first ones on my channel and it was pretty shitty quality. It's just, now people are going to see that interview and some of them are going to go back and watch that video and judge me for it. It's just weird."

Maya sighed in understanding. "For what it's worth, it is actually my favorite cover of yours. Your voice fit the song perfectly and I think it would have been a great single for you."

He looked taken aback by her praise and raised a skeptical brow. "Thank you?"

"I mean it."

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" He finally asked.

She sighed again and thought of how to word it as she went back to picking at her nail polish to avoid his gaze. "I didn't exactly have the best time when I was coming up in the industry as I'm sure you're aware. This is one of the most draining jobs in the world, but nobody tells you that when you're a little kid dreaming of performing on a stage. No one tells you about all of the behind the scenes work that goes into making an album or creating a show for tour or even all of the preparation for an interview like we did today. I realize how hard it is to adjust to this lifestyle and I decided that you don't need to deal with me being a bitch along with all of the other hurdles that you're going to have to get through." She looked up to meet his gaze and saw that he was looking at her with genuine appreciation in his eyes. "I think I can help you out a lot with this whole 'stardom' thing."

In an instant, his cold demeanor towards her returned and he was more pissed off than before. "I don't need your fucking help, Maya! I don't need you to make it, alright? God, you are so condescending! You think that you're so high and mighty all because you've been famous since you were a little kid, but look at you! You're washed up. You're so goddamn desperate for good publicity that your label is forcing you into relationships in the hopes that it will somehow make you look better. And you even managed to screw that up!"

Maya clenched her fists beside her and tried desperately to stop the angry tears from surfacing to her eyes. "Don't you dare talk about my relationships you asshole. You don't know anything about what happened with Tyler."

"You're just a petty brat," Lucas spat. "You were probably just jealous that he got more attention than you, am I right?"

"Shut the fuck up," Maya muttered.

"We're here Ms. Hart and Mr. Friar," the driver said uncomfortably from the front seat.

"Once you get over your damn pride issues I'll be here to talk," Maya huffed as she unbuckled and opened her door. "Until then, stay the fuck out of my sight." And with that, she slammed the door in his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday (August 14th) was my birthday and I decided to give you guys a present for it, but I didn't get the chance to post it until now! Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying this story and please let me know what you think in the comments :)


	4. Four

"He's crazy Riley, I'm telling you!" Maya groaned as she fell backwards onto her bed exasperated. "Or at least bipolar."

"Stop being so judgmental," Riley scolded. "He's only been here for what, a week now? He is still adjusting to all of this and he was kind of thrown in the deep end with working with you."

"Thrown in the deep end?" Maya sat up and rose an accusing eyebrow in her best friend's direction. "And we weren't?"

Riley rolled her eyes and sat down at Maya's vanity table. "That's not what I meant, Peaches. All I'm saying is that he's alone here with no family, no friends, and he thinks he has to face all of this without help."

"But that's the thing! I actually offered to help him and he accused me of being condescending. He even said that the whole reason I dumped Ty was because I was jealous of him."

"You never told me the real reason you dumped him," Riley said softly.

Maya scraped at the remainder of her nail polish uncomfortably. "He was being an asshole, that's all. I just didn't want to deal with it anymore."

"You know I'm here if you ever want to talk about-"

"I'm fine," Maya interrupted agitatedly. "I just want to know why this Friar douchebag has such a problem with me. I tried being nice and that didn't work, so maybe now I should just be a bitch to him."

"We both know that Rachel wouldn't like that," Riley sighed. "I think you and Lucas might have more in common than you think."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Stop with the cryptic bullshit, Riles."

"What I mean is you are both putting up walls for each other. You put up walls for everyone Maya and sometimes I can't even break through them. I think you have to give him the benefit of the doubt and keep trying to help him out. Just be there for him, alright?"

"I'm not going out of my way for him," Maya grumbled.

********************************

"Lucas! Tell me all about LA bro. Are the girls all as hot as we've imagined them? How about Maya? Is she really that tiny? And is she as hot in person? Tell me everything and don't leave out a single detail!"

Lucas chuckled for the first time in hours at his best friend's chattiness. "It's nice to talk to you too, Zay."

"Oh shut up," Zay dismissed. "Tell me about Maya!"

Lucas covered his eyes with his free hand and groaned. "I'd rather talk about anything but her to be honest."

"Damn, that bad?"

Lucas paused for a moment, trying to think of the right way to say it. "I don't know, man. One minute she's joking around and sitting on my legs and then the next she's being a condescending bitch and acting like she's better than me. I can't keep up with her mood swings."

"Did you just say she was sitting on your lap?"

"Is that really the only thing you just got from that? And it was my legs, it's different."

"You're tell me THE Maya Hart was sitting on top of you and you still have the audacity to complain? Get it together man!"

Lucas sighed, knowing that this conversation was going nowhere. "We went on Seacrest today and I thought I was gonna have a panic attack."

This seemed to sober Zay up. "Really? You haven't had one of those in years I thought."

"I haven't," he explained. "My manager told me I was gonna have to talk on the show and Maya had to explain how it was live and if I screwed up that was it. I just started freaking out about talking on air and she had to calm me down."

There was a beat of silence before he responded. "So it was Maya that calmed you down?"

Lucas realized that he was right and sighed. "I guess. She just kind of explained exactly what was going to happen and gave me some tips." He knew what Zay was probably thinking and he felt like he had to explain just how awful she was to justify himself. "Our manager told her to though. And then she told the entire world how one of my old covers was her favorite which means everyone is going to go back and listen to how shitty I used to be."

"Do you realize how ridiculous you are sounding right now or have you already gone Hollywood on me?"

"What do you mean?"

Zay clicked his tongue in aggravation. "Let's forget about the fact that this is Maya fucking Hart for a second and pretend it were a normal girl, okay? She helped calm you down before you had a panic attack on air in front of the entire world and guided you through doing your first ever big interview. And so what if your manager told her to? At least she still did it! Then she tells everyone how one of her favorite of your covers was one of the first ones you did, meaning she actually watched them. So what if it was one of the shittier ones? That just means people will see how much you've improved over the past two years. And then there's the fact that she IS Maya fucking Hart aka the hottest girl in the country and international superstar."

Lucas ran a hand through his hair in frustration, knowing Zay was making valid points. "She told Seacrest she had listened to all of my covers, but when I asked her about it she said she didn't look me up."

"So she was subscribed to you before? Are you telling me Maya Hart knew you existed back when you were still a nobody?"

"I guess. I don't know, she was acting all weird about it, but when we had first met she had no idea who I was. I don't understand her at all, Zay!"

"So she's hot AND mysterious."

"Would you stop it?"

"Damn, you're already getting protective over her! Good thing she dumped that Tyler asshole already. She must be broken-hearted and vulnerable which is the perfect time for you to swoop in."

"Cut it out," Lucas rolled his eyes. "I am never going to be a thing with Maya Hart, do you hear me?"

"Is it because you used to have her poster in your locker in sixth grade? Would that just be too weird for you?" Zay teased.

"You're a dick," Lucas laughed. His phone buzzed against his ear and he pulled it away to see he had a text from an unknown number.

 

From: Unknown

Hey Hopalong, it's Maya. Riley Farkle and I are going out downtown tonight and they wanted to know if you wanted to come.

 

"Are you still there?" Zay asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I just got a text from Maya asking if I wanted to go downtown tonight."

"You just got asked out by Maya Hart," Zay yelled through the phone. "Holy shit man, you gotta go!"

"It's not a date," Lucas clarified. "Two of her friends are going too."

"Who are her friends? Are they famous too?"

"Riley Matthews and Farkle Minkus."

"Dude, you have to go."

"I just told you how this girl gets on my last nerve and you really think I'm going to go out with her and her friends?"

Zay scoffed. "I might not be your manager anymore now that you've gone big, but I still know a good publicity moment when I see one. Even if you don't say a single word to her all night, being seen with her alone will be huge for you."

He hated to admit it, but Lucas knew he was right. "I'm seriously going to regret this."

"The hell you are," Zay laughed. "Put in a good word with Riley for me. I hear she's single."

"You read way too many of your mom's gossip magazines," Lucas chuckled.

 

To: Princess

I'll be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm horrible at updating and I'm so sorry about it. I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far and I will try my hardest to update again soon :)


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